Youth
by byShamora
Summary: Her life was as normal as any shinobi life and she liked it that way, but that damned Uchiha had to get in and make a mess out of it. ItaSaku Non-massacre
1. Chapter 1

ItaSaku Non massacre universe

* * *

Today was a normal day; rather sunny, regular breeze and not too hot. She had had a normal shift at the hospital and now they were having a normal training session with Sasuke's older brother. It was the perfect description of any day that would fit in the normal life of Haruno Sakura…

 _'_ _Thump thump'_

Except she wasn't feeling normal at all.

 _'_ _Thump thump'_

Again. That stupid stammer in her heart every time his hands made contact with her skin.

"Lower your elbow", his velvety voice was as normal as ever, but today, for some unknown reason, it was making her chest tight.

"Like this?", she replied, trying to ignore for the thousand time the strange reactions with which her body decided to bother her.

The spinning set of shuriken that flew from her hand missed one target and her brow creased.

"Sakura", her name on his lips sent an unwelcomed but not unpleasant chill down her spine. "You seem distracted today"

 _'_ _You have no idea'_ , she thought sarcastically but put on her best fake smile before facing him.

"I'm just tired from the work at the hospital"

Her plain answer seemed to satisfy Itachi's curiosity as he didn't question her anymore, but called everyone for a break nonetheless.

Itachi had been training with them for the past month, as they were all applying for the Jounin exams. His compliance had taken her and Naruto by surprise, since they had thought they would have more luck bringing back the Third to life and asking him to train them instead. Apparently, Sasuke had pushed the matter a lot, and according to his own story, asking him in front of their mother had been the deciding strike.

They were both such mama's boys.

In the end they had been put under a strict regime of training that many people would describe as sadistic, but neither of them cared. They had been doing a lot of progress.

So, for the past four weeks, her routine had been to be beaten, burnt, corrected and reprimanded by a ruthless Itachi, all of that after the usual long shifts at the hospital. Needless to say, she had learnt to hate the young prodigy.

Then why on earth was her body reacting like that to him?

She felt his intense stare on her and met his eyes.

 _'_ _Thump thump'_

And again, her heart jumped.

"Sakura, we're gonna stop for now, you look flustered", he moved in a bit closer and lifted his arm to her. The palm of his hand made contact with her large forehead, and if she was blushing before, now her face put her hair colour to shame.

"Maybe you're sick, your head feels hot", to her, the place where he was touching her felt like it was burning.

"Go home", he commanded.

There was something about the bossiness of his tone that made her stomach clench in an unfamiliar way.

"I'll walk you home, Sakura chan, you really don't look good", Naruto appeared with concern all over his face. She was too confused to reject him.

Maybe she was sick, and all this was just symptoms of her illness.

She should listen and go home.

After a while, when she was in the comfort of her bathroom, she looked at her reflection in the mirror for the longest time.

Her cheeks were blushed, but she didn't feel like she was on a fever.

 _'_ _This is not good'_ , she thought while a tired sigh escaped her lips.

Morning found her staring at the ceiling with deep purple circles under her eyes.

She hadn't slept a bit.

It would be all for the best to just blame it on some mid-season cold, but the fact was that she was as healthy as ever and still she hadn't been able to conciliate sleep in the whole night, not even for a minute.

After a loaded coffee, the usual work at the hospital kept her from thinking too much about her condition, so she kept herself busy with patients and surgeries and boring clinic hours. But as the day moved forward, the tingle in her stomach became more insistent and she knew she was anticipating the training.

Well, not the training itself, but their current teacher.

Sakura escaped the hospital quickly to deliver a folder to the Hokage, hoping that she would have any mission that would allow her to miss training.

"There's nothing for any of you until the end of the Jounin exams, so go and train yourself to death if necessary, I expect you to pass the exams", the blonde woman said without lifting her eyes from the towers of paperwork on her desk.

"It's not easy to release you all from missions for so long, you know?", Shizune walked Sakura to the exit of the office. "Tsunade sama is being uncommonly stubborn about it", she said, winking an eye at her. Again, she put on her fake smile and said her goodbyes.

She wished her shishou had been this compliant two months ago, when she was dying from stress from non-stopping missions and killer shifts at the hospital.

The midday sun received her at the other side of the threshold as she stepped outside the Hokage tower, and it was probably due to the temporary blindness that she missed the large figure walking straight to her.

She collided with something big and hurried to apologise.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't—", she found herself staring straight into the bottomless eyes of the culprit of all her misfortunes.

"Itachi san….!", his name escaped her lips.

"Are you feeling any better?", he asked plainly, his eyes never leaving hers.

Maybe it was because of the collision, of just the reflection of the sun, but for some reason he seemed to be… glowing?

She rubbed her eyes and tried looking at him again, but the sparkles didn't seem to go away.

 _'_ _Strange…'_

"I'm…", what did he ask again?

"Apparently not", he said with a lopsided smirk, soft and effortless, something so foreign in his features yet so settling…

The thumping of her heart was all she heard and at that precise moment she understood the depth of the mess she had gotten herself into.

She liked Uchiha Itachi.

A gasp was the only sound that left her before she practically escaped the dark haired man.

This was bad.

Her quick steps turned to running and wouldn't stop until she entered her apartment.

This was serious.

She leaned her weight against the closed front door once she was inside and stayed frozen for a few moments.

Her face was burning.

"I'm so screwed".

* * *

 **A/N: This is just an idea I wanted to get off my mind, it's not beta-ed. Don't know if it will continue.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

* * *

Everyone could say that Sakura was a very capable young woman. She was smart and strong and had devoted herself to learning and training to become one of the most remarkable medic nins in the Fire country. She excelled at anything she put her mind to…

But when it came to love, it was a different story.

Her skills in that area were lacking and her friends, especially Ino, took a special interest in bullying her about it. She had a bad eye for love, Sasuke being the one and only crush she had ever had and would ever have, as she had promised to herself. So it was surprising and rather shocking to realise that her heart had suddenly decided to throb for another man, and it was even more unsettling that said man was his brother.

The uncharacteristic frown in her forehead only deepened as she thought about the older Uchiha.

He was one of the most sought after bachelors in Konoha, and if it wasn't for his intimidating aura, his fanclub would be even scarier than Sasuke's. He was also the strongest shinobi she knew (and she knew plenty), smart and efficient, he was the kind of prodigy that could only be seen once in a lifetime.

In other words, he was unreachable.

He also happened to be the loved and worshipped older brother of who, only days ago, she thought was the love of her life.

The pained expression on her features was not so subtle as she poured the third coffee of the morning in her customised mug.

Soon it was lunchtime and she moodily dragged herself to the usual ramen place.

As she sat on a stool and patiently waited for the food to arrive, she wondered how on earth she developed such feelings towards none other than Uchiha Itachi.

She began an intense recollection of memories in hope to find a clue, anything that would explain her sudden change of heart. She found one that particularly caught her attention.

It had been a week ago. They were training as usual, and the task of the day had been to stealthily move across the forest in order to retrieve a scroll. Itachi and his clones had been the ones chasing Team Seven, and thus the task became incredibly more difficult.

She thought she was doing perfect, not even once had she encountered the black haired man and the target was very close. She jumped from a branch to another and the beacon was already in her line of sight. She didn't expect to get caught in mid-air and being roughly pressed against a nearby tree.

She didn't fully realise what was happening until her front was flat against the bark and her arm was being painfully twisted behind her back by a much stronger Itachi. He pinned her hard against the tree, effectively immobilising her, only allowing her to turn her head to the side to catch a glimpse of his collarbone and neck.

Only then she noticed how close he really was.

It was his scent, she concluded.

Something like soap, or shampoo, but mixed with sweat and something uniquely his, strong, intoxicating and utterly delightful.

That had been the lethal strike.

All of a sudden, she felt the warmth of his body, the raising temperature of her own, and how with a little twist of her head she could easily grace his skin with the tip of her nose.

She unintentionally inhaled the addictive scent and her knees became water.

"Such a pity, you were doing so well", he commented in a low, almost whispered tone that finished throwing away the last remains of her sanity.

The whole sequence didn't last more than a few seconds, but in her mind it was a lifetime. Even after he released her, her heart wouldn't stop racing and her face wouldn't lose its redness.

That's where it all started.

Sakura felt her face heating up for a reason that had nothing to do with the steaming bowl of ramen she was eating.

It was at that moment that she heard her name being called from her right.

"Sakura chan! What a coincidence!", Uchiha Shisui, with his wide smile and warm eyes sat in the stool next to her. She greeted him back with a polite smile.

They weren't close or anything, but she had treated his wounds on multiple occasions in the hospital, and for some reason he seemed to like her. He always treated her with such familiarity.

"Shisui san, how is that arm feeling?", she glanced at his arm, remembering how it had looked when he arrived at the hospital four nights ago.

"Very good, thanks to you as always", his tone was playful, his smile was effortless and his whole aura made her feel at ease.

"It's odd to see you by yourself, Shisui san, how is it that Itachi san is not with you today?", she teased back but was received with a questioning look that left her puzzled.

"What are you talking about? he's right behind you", he supressed a laugh when her eyes widened in surprise.

 _'_ _It can't be…'_

With deliberate slowness she turned around in her stool and felt the air leave her lungs as the figure of the before mentioned Uchiha came in sigh bit by bit.

"Hello, Sakura", he said simply. She felt her cheeks warming up again and cursed herself for not noticing him before.

Maybe she had thought so much about him she had ended up calling him with her mind.

"Itachi san….", she muttered with her best effort of a polite smile. Reality was that she was as stiff as a stick and her countenance seemed frozen in place.

He smirked.

 _'_ _Why, oh why?!',_ she thought dramatically as her guts melted.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you", she quickly came back to her bowl and tried stuffing as many noodles in her mouth as possible to avoid any interaction with the young man.

She felt the need to run from her spot.

In mere minutes she had finished her food and was already paying and getting ready to leave the place.

"You're leaving so soon?", Shisui asked with a teasing pout.

"Yeah, I… I have to get back to the hospital", she said, trying to sound cool and normal but failing miserably. "Sorry, see you around", she quickly turned and walked away.

"See you later for training", she heard Itachi's voice from behind her and her steps froze.

She couldn't bring herself to imagine training with him after the ridiculous amount of embarrassment she was feeling now.

She turned around.

"I'm sorry, today I won't be able to go training, I have double shifts", she lied with her best poker face and anxiously searched for any trace of disbelief in his face.

"Ok", he said simply and she took it as her cue to finally escape.

Yes, she had blatantly lied to him for the single purpose of avoiding him. But seriously, what did she gain from that? It wasn't as if she could avoid him for the rest of her life…

 _'_ _Just enough time until this stupid feeling fades away'_

After returning to her home she remembered she still had to train. The Jounin exams were getting close, and Itachi or not, she still had a sadistic Shishou that would have her head if she failed.

She decided to go to the farthest woods from where they usually trained, just to avoid being caught by anyone who knew her and started her routine of solo training.

 _'_ _This is ridiculous'_ , a part of her thought, hours later, when the sun had long ago set and her figure was covered in dirt and bruises.

 _'_ _You can't be hiding like this Sakura'_ , she reasoned. It was true that she was behaving like a preteen and her state could only be described as full denial, but she felt that too many things were at stake just for the sake of accepting her feelings.

So she made up her mind.

She would avoid seeing him at all costs.

* * *

Itachi was observant. He looked, analysed and learnt. His patience wasn't particularly high but he was calm enough as to wait for a situation to develop itself if he wanted to understand it.

In the last week he had learned a few interesting things, one of them was related to the pink haired medic, Haruno Sakura.

She was avoiding him.

He failed to grasp the reason behind her childish behaviour, and it wasn't like he was particularly interested in it either, but he felt curious as to why her attitude had changed so drastically, especially towards him.

The first day she missed training, he knew she had been lying about the double shift, but he figured that maybe she needed to do something and wasn't willing to talk about it. He could respect that.

The second day, he began to feel concerned. It wasn't good that she was missing training, seeing as the exams were around the corner now, so what was so important that kept her away from properly preparing herself?

The next few days, he started realising that it was him who she was avoiding. Every time they would meet at random places; the ramen shop, the flower shop, the street or the Hokage Office… she would smile awkwardly and fly from his side as soon as she was given a chance, and that was only if the situation needed them to interact with each other. She would even go as far as pretending she didn't see him if they crossed gazes in the street.

He felt puzzled.

Had he done something to her to provoke such behaviour?

He figured that asking someone close to her was too suspicious, and it wasn't as if he was that interested anyway.

He opened the bottle of water he was holding and drank its refreshing contents.

"It's been a week since Sakura chan disappeared from training…", Naruto commented lazily as he laid against a tree.

"Hnn, she will be the only one to suffer the consequences", Sasuke said coldly, though he couldn't help but feel a little concerned about their female teammate.

"But I wonder what is she doing? Why is she not coming?", Naruto insisted with a small frown on his brow. "Maybe too much work at the hospital?"

"Probably, though I doubt the Hokage would ask her to stay longer than necessary, seeing as she went through the trouble of releasing us from missions so we could train…", Sasuke offered as he too became deep in thought.

"You're right, it doesn't make any sense…", the blonde stared hard at the ground, searching for possible explanations. Then he looked at the other member of their training group who coincidentally was the only one who hadn't said a word about Sakura's missing presence.

"Oi, Itachi, do you know anything?", he looked at him through narrowed eyes, slightly suspicious that he hadn't said anything yet.

"No", he said curtly, with a dryness that left no room for questioning.

The truth was that now his curiosity was peaking, so after the training session, his footsteps wandered aimlessly around the village without his full consent and with the deep and almost unconscious hope of catching a glimpse of the slippery kunoichi.

After a long time of walking, he was about to give up but decided to give one last round before going home. Luckily for him, said round happened to be in the same training grounds where a semi unconscious Sakura laid flat in the ground, heavily dirtied and with a laborious breathing.

He approached her silently and stopped a few inches away from her sprawled and messy pink hair. Itachi observed her oblivious form and took in the little details that gave away her recent activities.

She had been training.

One quick look around the field and he could tell that she had really been pushing herself, but that realisation only brought more questions to his mind.

He lowered himself to a crouching position to get a closer look of her face, now decidedly asleep and had to repress the urge to shake her awake and demand answers. Of course he was in no position to do such a thing, since she was under no obligation of training with him.

Still, the uncomfortable sensation that pooled in his gut made him wonder since when he had become so possessive.

"Sakura", his voice came out softer than he intended, so, needless to say, the sleeping girl didn't even flinch. He repeated her name, this time a bit stronger and she stirred softly before opening her eyes to stare straight at his upside down face.

She froze for a few seconds, not really understanding what was going on. Her eyes widened, all traces of tiredness gone.

"I-Itachi… san…", she stuttered shyly, almost to herself. How long had he been there? She had to be the worst kunoichi in the world, seriously.

She realised the position they were in and blushed furiously, almost jumping to a sitting position at a safe distance from him. She hid her burning face from him behind a curtain of hair and a lifted forearm, unable to face him now that he had found her.

He must've realised she had been training, and therefore knew that she had lied. She could only hope that he wouldn't know it had all been to avoid _him_.

Seconds passed and she only became more embarrassed.

Itachi kneeled on the ground as he approached her slowly.

"Sakura…", he said before grabbing her arm and softly move it away from her hidden face. "Are you alrig—"

He stopped mid-sentence when he took in her expression.

Her eyes were glistening, her cheeks were impossibly flushed, matching almost perfectly with her hair, messily falling in front of her emerald orbs. Her lips were on a shy pout, making them look full and reddened and even with all the dirt and bruises marring her otherwise porcelain skin, she looked…

Enticing.

Itachi gasped softly, not fully believing his own thoughts.

A wave of heat travelled through his body in the most bizarre way, rendering him motionless for a few moments.

Finally, realisation hit him and he released her violently, as if he had just been burnt. The sudden movement made him fall backwards, his arms reaching behind to support his weight.

"I'm sorry", she said with a pained expression. "I've… been training by myself", the guilt could be tasted in her tone. She looked away.

Itachi regained his composure and sat straight before talking.

"Why are you apologising?", he asked serious.

"Because…! You took the time to train us, day after day, even though you had no obligation of doing so and I…", the words were trapped in her throat.

"I did it because I wanted to. You have the freedom of joining us if you want to, but there's no reason to apologise for wanting to do it by yourself", he said matter-of-factly.

He truly believed those words, but there was something in the back of his head that told him that he wasn't being completely honest.

"May I ask why?", he asked after a while. The nagging, he realised, was because he didn't know the reason behind her actions. The truth was that he wanted to know why she had been avoiding him.

She looked at him for the longest time. He could tell she was struggling whether to tell him or not. He vaguely wondered if it was something serious.

He decided to spare her from the torture.

"You don't have to tell me, it's alright", he said finally, collecting himself to a standing position. He absentmindedly shook off the dirt in his knees as he avoided her gaze. "I'm satisfied with knowing that you are preparing yourself properly for the Jounin Exams"

Then he looked at her and the guilt was still clearly readable all over her face. He sighed minutely before a small smirk drew on his features.

"Keep working hard", he said as he placed an open hand on top of her head, his gaze locked with hers.

Sakura's face became red as a tomato, which only made his smirk bigger. Finally, he dropped his hand and turned around to walk away.

She was left in the middle of the field, sprawled on the ground, unable to stand up with her wobbly knees as she stared at the retreating figure of an enigmatic Uchiha Itachi.

 _'_ _This is getting worse…'_

* * *

 **A/N:** And the story continues! I would love to wake up to a sight like that any day of the week ʚ ⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁) Is it just me or Sakura is turning out to be a bit of a pervert? :O

Hopefully this will continue. Thanks for your support!

xxx


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

* * *

The walk back to her house was made at a deliberate slow pace. In part because she was tired as hell and every inch of her body hurt, but mostly because it gave her the time and space to think.

She felt guilty for avoiding Itachi like that, but now that he found out, she felt even worse.

The Jounin exams were a week away and after that she would return to her normal routine of hospital, missions and Ichiraku with Naruto and Sasuke… no Itachi at all.

The truth was that up until this training started, she had scarcely interacted with the older Uchiha. He was on missions most of the time, and even if she was a regular at the main Uchiha household, the times she had met him there were seldom. She could only rely on the hope that after the exams, it would be like that again.

She winced when her chest contracted at the thought, but shook her head in an imaginary attempt to erase the sensation.

When she arrived at her home, she was surprised to find two young shinobi seating bored outside her front door. The picture was unusual, and she stopped to look at it for a few more amused seconds.

"What is this?", she said with a playful tone.

Naruto and Sasuke looked up at her before simultaneously release a long and exasperated sigh.

"Sakura chan! You took forever!", The blonde stood up and walked to her. "What happened? Why you look so messy?", he asked alarmed when he noticed her ragged and dirtied state.

"Uhh… I was training", she said, trying to avoid his questioning gaze. She noticed Sasuke focusing intently on her as well and suddenly it all became too uncomfortable.

They all entered her small apartment and after a long talk and a few small lies, they seemed satisfied.

She wasn't.

She hated lying to them.

Sasuke, as expected, looked less convinced, but she knew he wouldn't buy so easily her fishy story about wanting to improve some abilities on her own. They had known each other for too long.

Most of her guilt, she figured, was because of him. On countless occasions he had rejected her feelings for him, he had turned down her dates propositions in the most cold and ruthless ways and he never failed to make completely clear that he held no romantic feelings towards her, but she still felt like she was betraying him for liking his brother, and that was a weight not so easy to shake off.

Later that night, after her boys had left and she was wrapped under her covers, she wondered if that was the main reason for denying with such ferocity her developing feelings for Itachi.

She had always let Sasuke have such a big control over her life, her decisions, everything, and wondered if perhaps, this was the opportunity to do things for her own sake.

Just this time, could she be selfish?

She looked outside her window to the pitch black sky and the few stars that adorned it and allowed herself to fantasise about opening up.

The mere idea of confessing to Itachi made her stomach flutter with nervousness, especially because she could somehow anticipate his answer.

She knew she had no chance with him and if Sasuke had been a tough love, his brother was sure to be worst.

She really had a bad eye for love.

When she woke up, she felt renewed and compelling to finally be honest with herself.

Before she knew it, her anxious steps leaded her to the Uchiha training grounds, but all her confidence came crushing down when she realised that it was deserted except for one single presence.

Itachi.

 _'Oh dear…'_

She gulped and tried to steel her resolve.

The young man looked at her with no less amount of surprise and followed her with his eyes until she was a few feet away and her steps came to a stop.

Suddenly, Sakura stiffened and bowed deeply, her bangs falling down completely and her face almost horizontal to the ground.

"I'm so sorry", she said. "Please allow me to train with you again"

She was a nervous wreck, but she knew it was the best thing to do. Training was the utmost priority for her now, and after it was all over, she would face straight ahead her conflicting heart.

For now, all she could do was to act with maturity and just suck it up.

Itachi sighed amused. His eyes warmed at the bowing figure of the small kunoichi and smiling minutely, he walked to shorten the distance between them.

"What are you doing?", he said softly as he put a hand on top of her head.

Sakura slowly straightened up, peeking from behind her bangs at the smiling face of Itachi.

His hand then fell on her shoulder and stayed there as he gave a step forward.

"I already told you, you don't have to apologise", his tone was flat but she could tell it was sincere and she couldn't help a shy smile of her own.

"Welcome back", he finally said at the time his hand tightened minutely on her shoulder. She felt the motion all too well, and her cheeks became slightly flushed.

"Thank you", her voice raised a bit with confidence and she gave him a full blown smile of pure happiness.

It took him off guard.

Her expression, her blush and her open attitude made him suddenly realise she was a girl, and he was a man.

A hot blooded man.

He released his hold on her a little too fast and quickly turned around to prevent her from seeing the conflict in his countenance. He felt his face getting warm.

It was most unsettling.

* * *

Naruto was a dense person. He knew that, everybody knew that, so it only stroke him as odd when he actually _noticed_ something strange going on with Itachi.

He wasn't particularly close to the older Uchiha, but lately they had been sharing a large amount of time, so he gradually started to learn his personality and antics. That was the precise reason why some situations called his special attention, like for example, the way he would focus more on Sakura when he was talking, or how his touch would linger a bit more than necessary when correcting her stance, or how he would press her unnecessarily tight against a tree or the ground to immobilise her during a spar.

It all seemed suspicious to his eyes, but he wasn't keen enough to grasp the situation, so he often told himself he was just imagining things, that it was all because he was too overprotective of Sakura.

He also failed to notice the way her face would turn on like a tomato every time Itachi would do all those things, but then again, he was just dense.

* * *

In the end, it hadn't been as awful as Sakura had thought. Except for a few occasions where she had a hard time controlling her thumping heart, it all went by smoothly and all of a sudden, the Jounin Exams had arrived.

Team Seven walked at an annoyingly slow pace as they escorted the official Konoha commission to Sunagakure for the Jounin Exams.

To Naruto, it had been the longest three days of his life. He wouldn't stop complaining about the speed of the trip, and Sakura was already losing her patience.

She was tired and in a remarkably sour mood after endless quarrels with her blond teammate, and even Sasuke was behaving like a child, so when they caught sight of the entrance of the Hidden Village in the Sand, at time with the sunset, she was the happiest of them all.

After the usual pleasantries and a small reunion with the village's leaders, they were finally dismissed to settle in their temporary housings.

The apartment complex was located in the outskirts of the village. She was to share an apartment with Naruto and Sasuke, and in the upper floor were the teachers and examiners. Itachi was there.

Sakura walked to a small terrace to enjoy the cool night breeze. Unlike Konoha, here it was warm the whole year, and especially during summer, the days could get impossibly hot, but during the night the nippy wind would lower the temperature and thus making it pleasant and enjoyable,

Sasuke was already there when she arrived, supporting his arms on the ridge of the fence at the border of the building.

She took a moment to observe him from behind, taking in his serene expression and wondered what thoughts occupied his mind.

"Such a nice night, isn't it?", she commented offhandedly when she arrived at his side.

"Hn", he didn't turn to look at her.

"Tomorrow it will start… I'm so excited!", she kept talking, already used to her teammate's monosyllables. "I wonder what will be the tests like…"

"Sakura", he suddenly spoke, startling her a bit.

"You should have been here a long time ago", his voice was soft and deep. "All this time, you waited for us…", his head turned to the side to look at her in the eye. "Thank you"

The surprise in her face was evident as this was most unexpected.

It was true, she had decided to wait for them to become Jounin at the same time, since Naruto had gone to train with Jiraiya and Sasuke had gone in his little adventure with Orochimaru, both their ranks had been stuck in Genin by the time she had become a Chuunin.

Three years had gone by since they returned and now they would finally be Jounin, together, as she had always wanted.

The smile slipped easily into her face as a warm feeling pooled in her chest.

"I'm happy", she said.

A smile drew on his features then and he felt his cheeks gradually heating up. He ruffled her hair casually, trying to distract her from his obvious blush.

"No!", she laughed. "Stop it! Sasuke kun!", her giggles filled the quiet night breeze and Sasuke couldn't help a small laugh of his own.

Little did they know that their small interaction was being observed by the most unexpected spectator.

* * *

Itachi felt a foreign pressure taking hold of his chest the moment he walked into the terrace and was struck by the image of his little brother flirting with Sakura.

It wasn't like it was completely unexpected, after all, as far as he knew, Sakura had professed her love for Sasuke to anyone who would care to listen, so it was only natural that he would eventually develop corresponding feelings for her.

Still, with all his reasoning and bullet-proof logic, the pain in his gut was the only thing he could focus on.

His eyes were widened as he stared at both their figures and he quickly turned around and walked into the building, pressing his back against the wall.

He concluded there was something seriously wrong with him, but the consequences of dwelling into it promised to be catastrophic, so he just walked away to find something, anything, to do to keep his mind distracted.

This wasn't like him at all.

Luckily, one of his many talents was the ability to control almost perfectly his flow of thoughts, so when the morning came and the opening ceremony started, it was fairly easy to keep thoughts of last night's events in the dark.

He observed the large group of Chuunin formed in the centre of the stadium, his three temporary students included and couldn't help a certain sense of pride. As the morning moved forward, the various tests proved to be nothing for the gifted trio and soon it was the individual fights, and as expected, the three of them excelled in every aspect. Their opponents didn't stand a chance.

It was late in the afternoon when the tests of the first day concluded and a large amount of participants went straight to the hospital.

Sakura was enjoying the bliss of a warm, scented bath when a knock sounded loudly on her door.

 _'It has to be now?_ , she decided that whatever it was it could wait, so she pretended she didn't hear and laid her head backwards with closed eyes.

 _'Knock knock'_

Sigh.

 _'Knock knock knock knock'_

"Oh come on!", she got up exasperated and roughly grabbed a towel to wrap around her dripping body.

The water from the bath was overflowing from the violence of her movements but she couldn't care. Someone was disturbing her precious relaxing and recovery time, so it better be for a good reason.

She stomped to the door with a deep frown and without a second thought opened the door fully until it bounced against the wall.

On the other side, an astonished Itachi looked back at her irritated form through widened eyes. Sakura immediately cursed herself for her imprudence and tried her best to calm herself down.

Itachi or not, he had an awful timing.

"What is it", she almost spat and regretted it instantly. His usually blank face was slightly contorted into something between surprise and amusement, and for some reason if made her even more upset.

The slight lopsided smirk that appeared on the corner of his mouth didn't help her mood either.

"The Hokage has requested your presence", he said with no intent on hiding his amusement. "Apparently the hospital is on the verge of collapsing, and Suna asked for backups from Konoha"

Sakura observed him silently for a few long seconds.

Ok, that was a good reason.

She sighed exasperated and briefly closed her eyes.

"Ok, I'll be there in a minute"

Itachi didn't seem to move away and only then she became aware of the situation.

She was clad in nothing but a thin towel and her hair and body were dripping wet, and Itachi…

His eyes were fixed on her, his stare more intense than usual. She felt unable to look away, as if he had just casted a spell on her and without anticipation, his eyes moved to her lips and her breathing got caught in her throat.

Again, the sound of her heart hammering in her chest was the only thing she could hear and when her senses finally returned to her, she nervously grabbed the doorknob and slammed the door shut.

She felt her face burning.

"Sorry to disturb you", she heard his flat tone form the other side of the door before his steps told her he was walking away.

Air returned to her lungs but her heart wouldn't calm down, so she stayed in front of the closed door for a few minutes until adrenaline had worn off and she was able to dry her hair and put some clothes on.

After her heart had finally settled down and her face had returned to a normal colour, she went to talk to Tsunade and then went straight to the Hospital.

She hadn't been exaggerating. It was chaotic.

 _'Here we go'_ , she put on her medic mode and confidently walked to the emergency room.

* * *

"Sakura chan! Wake up!", a loud voice violently woke her up. "The village is under attack!", Naruto was shaking her awake with two strong hands and suddenly his words sank in.

In a split of a second, all the years of Shinobi training kicked in and she was immediately on alert, putting on her fighting gear and jumping next to Naruto.

"Come!", he yelled as he ran to the window. Sakura followed him and they both jumped to the roof of the lower floor. At the distance she could hear the distinctive sounds of a battle, and out of reflex she started to imagine all the possible scenarios and her counterattacks.

They were jumping from one rooftop to another in the direction of the sounds, and once they were close they jumped down to the street level and started running.

 _'Where is Sasuke-kun?'_ , just as that thought crossed her mind, a strong blow on her left sent her flying against a wall.

There, running towards her at full speed was an unknown Shinobi with an Anbu mask covering his face.

She countered his attack and tried getting a glance of Naruto's position.

Who were they?

She was being assaulted with too many questions, but now what mattered the most was to keep the village safe. She made visual contact with her blonde teammate who had just dodged a set of shuriken and made a quick signal that she knew he would understand.

They had to lead the attackers outside of Suna.

Sakura ran with all her strength in the direction of the tall rocky walls and jumped just in time to counter a Fire jutsu. The Anbu was fast and she had to double her efforts in order to keep him at a safe distance. Luckily for her, all the training had enhanced her physical skills, giving her more resistance and higher levels of stamina.

A set of kunai pierced the air in her direction and she avoided them just to find they had strings attached to them and suddenly she was rendered motionless.

The shinobi was speeding towards her with a sword in hand and in a fraction of a second she accumulated a monstrous amount of chakra in her right foot and smashed it against the ground. The wire became loose and the attacker got confused and she took her cue to escape the place, further away from the village.

She had lost sight of Naruto, but could still hear the fight all around her.

She found a rock formation and leaded her attacker there. If she managed to hide herself from him, she would get the advantage at trying to catch him and figure who the hell he was. As she ran deeper between the rocks, the formation became a labyrinth and she produced several shadow clones to try to confuse the enemy.

An explosive tag blasted dangerously near her head and she turned to face the man. His movements were fast and confusing; she could tell he was an experienced Shinobi, but the realisation only made her resolve stronger. Using most of her chakra she made a few more shadow clones and knitted a complex web of wires with the help of some shurikens, and when the target was in position, she released them all, effectively trapping him against a large rock.

In a second she was right next to him, a chakra-enhanced hand pointing directly at his carotid artery.

"You'll be dead before you know it, don't move", her voice was but a whisper. She moved her hand to his mask to uncover the hidden face when a loud pouf of smoke exploded and her captured Shinobi was gone.

She didn't have any time to be surprised as a strong pressure on her back pushed her hard against the same rock her hostage had been seconds ago.

Her knees were immobilised with his legs, her right arm was trapped with the painful grip of his hand and her left arm was being roughly twisted behind her back.

She was dead.

Frantic, her mind started to think of all the possible moves she could make to get herself released, but his grip was tight leaving her almost no room to move at all.

She twisted her head to the side to catch a glimpse of the face of her captor, but was met with a high collar and a white Anbu mask.

But something caught her attention.

Her senses were enhanced with the adrenaline of the battle, and the scent that would have normally passed unadverted felt strong on her nose.

She couldn't be mistaken.

"You were doing so well, Sakura", though muffled, the deep voice behind the mask was easily recognisable.

And so was his scent.

"Itachi san!", she said his name and then fell speechless. This felt like a Deja Vú.

What was going on?

Panic started to rise and her limbs became numb. She couldn't understand anything. Where was Naruto? and Sasuke-kun?

"Now, what are you going to do?", he spoke again and it brought her back to reality. She heard the challenge in his tone, and noticed for the first time that he was wielding no weapon against her. He was simply trapping her.

She knew that for someone like Uchiha Itachi, that didn't make much of a difference if he wanted her dead, but it still stroke her as odd.

"Is this some sort of joke?", she demanded, her voice quiet but urgent. His hold on her left arm became stronger and she winced from the pain.

"Is it?", he almost whispered, and despite the circumstance, she couldn't help the chill that ran down her spine.

She wasn't gonna get anything out of this.

In a second, her figure became smoke and Itachi crushed against the rock in front.

After dispelling her clone, Sakura took the moment of confusion to move in closer and press a chakra infused finger on a pressure point in the back of his neck.

He instantly fell to the ground, completely unconscious.

She stood there unmoving, watching the limp figure of the older Uchiha and a thousand questions started to race through her mind.

"Congratulations"

She turned around, not fully believing her ears.

"You've officially become a Jounin of Konoha".

* * *

 **A/N:** _whatt? no way! seriously?!_

 _ok, i'm quite sure most of you knew who the masked anbu was, but it was still fun write :D Please remember this is not beta-ed, though if you have any corrections I will gladly accept them._

 _Sorry about the crappy fighting scene, it is definitely not my strong point._

 _Thank you for your reviews! They made me happy!_ _‧⁺◟( ᵒ̴̶̷̥́ ·̫ ᵒ̴̶̷̣̥̀ )_

 _btw, I loved the part with Naruto's thoughts, somehow I can picture him being all dense in a situation like that lol_


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

* * *

Sakura took a deep breath.

On her right, Naruto stood proudly with his golden hair swinging softly with the breeze. His eyes were shining and as he noticed her stare on him, he offered her his trademark foxy grin.

She couldn't help but smiling back.

On her left, Sasuke stood not as brooding as always. His countenance looked rigid but the slight shimmering of his eyes told her he was reasonably happy. His head shortly turned to the side to meet her gaze and all he could offer was a shy, almost imperceptible tug at the corner of his mouth. That was smile enough for her and she grinned at her friend's cold antics.

The deaf sound of the cheering of the crowd was adrenalininc enough, and she glanced at the happy audience gathered in the main Suna stadium. She released her breath as her gaze finally settled at the front where the Kages and teachers were sitting.

There, on a dark corner, almost hidden from common view, an onyx pair of eyes looked at her intently.

Sakura smiled at the older Uchiha and unlike his brother, his smirk although small, was more easily given.

They had made it.

They were finally Jounin together.

* * *

A few days later, back in the gentler heat of Konoha, Sakura wondered why she had thought that two weeks off had first sounded like such a good idea.

Her elbows were lazily leaning on the fence of her balcony as she looked down at the busy street. She had completely recovered from her training and the strain of the exams, and now, in perfect shape and fully charged of stamina and chakra, she failed to think of what to do with so much free time.

"Sakura chan!", a loud voice called her from the street and her spirits were instantly lifted as she looked at the energetic figure of Naruto.

It turned out that she wasn't the only bored one, as it was soon stated by her very loud friend and even Sasuke had his own complaints. As they strolled down the street planning something fun to do, they walked in front of a greengrocery and Sakura had an idea.

"Watermelons?", Naruto seemed a bit skeptical at first, but when the shopkeeper gave them a sample slide of the fruit, he couldn't agree more.

"Ah, there's a place I wanted to go", Sasuke offered and it immediately caught their attention.

They walked through the forest southwards from the Uchiha district and passed by their training grounds. Sakura felt her heart skip a beat when they noticed Itachi was there, and it wasn't like she didn't want to spend time with him, but for some reason she felt extremely embarrassed when Naruto called out to him and invited him to spend the afternoon with them.

Against all odds, he agreed and a few kilometres later they arrived to a beautiful waterfall somewhat hidden in the thick forest.

Naruto dropped the watermelons and ran happily to a tall rock.

"Come here Sasuke! let's make a jumping competition!", he said while stripping himself off his clothes. The brooding Uchiha followed him with less enthusiasm but joined his friend nonetheless.

"These boys…", she sighed with a warm smile as she walked to the side of the pond to dip her legs on the cool water.

Her gaze softened as she looked at her teammates play like children in the water, and a sudden happiness filled her chest.

She was so focused on them that she nearly missed the piece of watermelon being offered to her from the side. She followed the arm that held it and found herself staring at Itachi's face.

Way too close for her comfort.

"Thank you", she accepted the fruit and timidly started eating it as the black haired man sat by her side.

They silently observed the young shinobi engage in a 'friendly' spar in the water, occasionally laughing at their strange sense of friendship and Sakura knew she would have to heal them afterwards.

She glanced at man sitting by her side, a slight anxiousness blooming after realising they were somewhat alone.

"You're not getting into the water?", Sakura asked curious.

"Mmm", he muttered softly. "Maybe I will", he finished without looking at her.

"What about you?", he met her gaze and she suppressed a blush.

She tried at least.

"I didn't come prepared", she looked at her clothes. The truth was that she was dying to get into the water. It looked so cool and refreshing and if Itachi wasn't there with them, she would have stripped off her clothes just like Naruto had done and would've jumped into the pond without a care in the world.

She glanced at him again.

The idea of dipping into the water with nothing but her underwear in front of this man was unbearable.

He didn't say anything, maybe knowing what she was thinking.

Why was she so embarrassed when he was around?

He released a long sigh.

"It's quite hot today", he said while suddenly standing up. The movement caught her by surprise, and it was already too late to look away when his shirt started rolling up his torso and she was left staring at his nude upper body. He completely took it off and his pants followed soon after and in a blink of an eye, clad in nothing but his boxers, he was in the water, his long hair floating around his shoulders as he moved forward to where Naruto and Sasuke were sparring.

Sakura gulped.

Now the air felt certainly warmer.

 _'_ _Get a hold of yourself Sakura!'_ , he was just a man, she had seen plenty in her career as a shinobi.

 _'_ _Certainly none like him'_ , inner Sakura offered and she instantly blushed.

"Sakura chan! come into the water with us", Naruto called her with an exaggerated waving and she just smiled while shaking her head.

She missed the knowing looks he exchanged with Sasuke.

A few minutes passed and without knowing what was going on, she suddenly found herself being pulled into the water.

She emerged with a loud gasp and a few surprised coughs as she frantically searched around her for the culprits. Her teammates were at a safe distance from her and she yelled both their names.

Stupid friends of her.

She caught a glance of their amused faces before surrendering to laughter.

"Are you alright?", Itachi was floating a few feet away from her. The amused smile on his face looked somewhat odd on his usually blank expression, but Sakura thought it couldn't be more settling.

She feigned indignation.

"Not thanks to you!", she turned her head offended but the smile was stubbornly cracking her self imposed mask.

Itachi laughed.

It was soft and short, but it made her flip her head in astonishment to get a proper look of this weird display of emotions.

It was a sight that she knew would be forever burnt into her mind.

* * *

Summer was relentless, and it felt somehow worst when they had no missions to do. It was the last weekend of their free weeks and without even asking, Sakura and Naruto had popped by Sasuke's house to spend the afternoon. In the end they had lazily laid on the deck of the backyard, protected under the shade that the roof and the trees provided.

Sakura didn't realise she had fallen asleep until she was woken up by the sound of steps approaching her on the wooden floor. She was on her side laying on the floor and facing the garden, feeling her body tired and heavy from the heat.

"Naruto… why don't you bring me something fresh?", she said without turning around. "…Too hot", she muttered while rubbing her eyes and lifting herself to a sitting position.

"What would you like?", Itachi's voice sounded from behind, startling her. She quickly turned around to look at him.

"Sorry! I thought it was Naruto…", she said with a nervous giggle before looking around suspicious.

"Where are they?", she asked after a while.

"He and Sasuke left a while ago", he said plainly as he seated crossed legged next to her.

"Left? Where to?"

"To buy ice cream"

She stared at him for a few seconds before laughing softly.

"What…? Are they kids?", the pinkette commented in a good mood. She fanned herself with her hand, trying desperately to get some fresh air.

Suddenly, the black haired man stood up without saying a word and walked inside the house.

 _'_ _What? did I say something wrong?'_ , she looked nervously at the garden, wondering if he became upset or something.

It was kind of frustrating, she thought. She never knew what to expect from him.

She had already acknowledged her love and accepted the fact that it would be forever one-sided, and she didn't care that much, considering the years she spent in the same situation with his brother, but still, a part of her wanted to share with him, spend more time, get to know him better.

 _'_ _As if that would happen'_ , she thought bitterly.

The image of Ino's annoyed face came into her mind.

 _'_ _Nothing will even change if you don't do something about it'_ , she remembered her words a few days ago when Sakura had involuntarily given away the information of her current love interest.

 _'_ _There is nothing to do, he's Uchiha Itachi after all…',_ she had said gloomy and almost jumped when she received a painful knock on her head.

 _'_ _Stupid Sakura! give yourself some more credit! and you talk about him like he's some sort of god! I mean, he is amazing and all but in the end… he's just a man"_

Sakura sighed as she observed the bamboo fountain being filled with water and then falling on top of a small rock with a dry sound.

 _'_ _He's just a man… right?'_

"Here"

Suddenly, a pink snow cone blocked her range of vision.

She lifted her head to the side to look at Itachi with questioning eyes.

"You said you wanted something fresh", he answered her unsaid question as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Her eyes traveled from the cone to his face repeatedly until her brain caught what he had just said.

"Th- thank you…", her voice was shaky as she took the snow cone and quickly turned around to hide her blushing face from him.

It was a home made strawberry snow cone.

"You didn't have to…", she said shyly as she stared at the pink ball of ice. Ironically, her chest started feeling much warmer.

"Hn", he simply muttered and she decided to try the snow cone.

"Mmm!, it's so good!", she exclaimed as the ice melted in her mouth. "So refreshing!", it was exactly what she wanted.

"Try some, it's really good", she offered him.

He looked at her hands for a few seconds before nodding.

"Just a little", he said and slightly leaned to her, his head sticking out.

Sakura looked at him a few seconds before she understood the situation.

He wanted her to feed him.

Oh dear.

She knew she was blushing, and she knew he noticed it as he was staring amusedly straight at her.

Awkwardly, she took a spoon of ice and very very slowly approached it to his mouth.

She gulped.

Did it suddenly get hotter?

She was sweating like mad.

His lips parted just enough to let the spoon in and she saw the melting ice disappear behind his now closed mouth.

She gulped again.

He smiled.

"It's good", he muttered as he returned to his original seating position next to her as if nothing had happened.

She just wanted to jump into the pond to cool down her burning face.

A nervous giggle escaped her as she hastily took several spoons of ice in an attempt to cover her embarrassment and just as the spoon left her mouth, she gasped, realising what she had done.

'Indirect… kiss', she panicked.

A small, less prude part of her mind reminded her she wasn't twelve anymore and it was just ludicrous that she would be embarrassed over such a petty thing, but she froze nonetheless.

"Is something wrong?", Itachi asked curious and she stiffly shook her head, before a nervous laughing fit took hold of her.

"No! Hahaha! nothing! it's… Hahaha, so hot today, isn't it", in her mind, she swore she was acting normal.

Sadly, it was quite the contrary.

"Ah! I know what you were thinking", he suddenly said and she froze once again, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

The mischievous expression on his face didn't really help her nervousness.

"Indirect… kiss", he almost whispered, more than amused and her blood went cold.

"Nooo!", yes, the nervous giggles and incoherent phrases didn't stop.

"Would it be better if it was direct?", he said as he slowly seated himself closer to her and leaned to her face. Sakura stared at him, impossibly flushed.

"Eh…?"

"…A kiss", he whispered as he shortened the distance between them.

His face was inches away from hers and his eyes were narrowed, fixed on her parted lips.

Her breath got caught in her throat.

' _Thump thump'_

She felt her heart would beat its way out of her ears.

 _'_ _No… way….'_

He smirked.

A very devious, sadistic, Sasuke-like smirk.

"I was joking", he said before moving away to his original position.

She could do nothing but stare, wide eyed and gaping like a fish out of water.

"Sakura chan! are you awake now?", Naruto yelled from inside the house.

The kunoichi suddenly was pulled form her shock and without really processing anything she awkwardly stood up and stumbled her way into the house to receive the loud blonde.

"Na- Naruto! You went away!"

"Sakura, are you ok?", Sasuke commented as he entered the room with a plastic bag on his hand.

"Eh?"

"Your face is all red", he pointed out and she pressed her palms against her cheeks.

"Ah! yeah, it's just so hot today!", she said in a high pitch. "I'm… going…. to the bathroom", she mumbled before disappearing into the hallway in clumsy quick steps.

As she reached the toilet and closed the door behind her, she stared at her reflection on the mirror.

The image of Itachi's face so close to hers suddenly invaded her mind.

He had been so close that she had felt the warmth of his skin against her own skin and his soft breath fanning over her cheeks.

She could still feel his scent.

She leaned against the wall and let her body fall until her bottom reached the cool floor.

At least there was something cool in the room now.

* * *

 **A/N:** Steamy! Thank you shoujo mangas for the inspiration!

Loved your reviews! xxx


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